


to begin

by tsunade (boxofroses)



Series: kakashi and iruka [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, Eventual Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21659941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofroses/pseuds/tsunade
Summary: A new chapter in Kakashi's and Iruka's life awaits to begin as an accidental pink plus sign catches them off-guard one afternoon.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Series: kakashi and iruka [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556980
Comments: 22
Kudos: 196





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing an m-preg fic and one thats sooo long too for only covering 50% of the story, so many of my nervousness has been poured into these words but i hope it turned out well and u enjoy it! i hope nothing is wrong too aa;;

“Are you sure that’s correct?” Kakashi says as he leans against the doorframe. Iruka only gives him a quick glance before he lets out a big, deep sigh. 

“It’s the third one, Kakashi. It  _ can’t _ be wrong” Iruka retorts as he slumps forward, elbows resting on his knees and he looks down at the worn-out bathroom tiles underneath his feet. 

Kakashi also sighs, not knowing where to look. His throat grows more constricted and drier the longer he stays silent.

“Do you want me to check again?” Iruka continues.

“Let’s go to Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi says. Iruka shrugs at his suggestion and gets up from the toilet to follow him. 

After throwing on their respective flak jackets and gathering of personal belongings, they leave their apartment hand-in-hand, unable to determine exactly how to feel, or what to expect, or what they hope the outcome would be. The only thing certain between them is the sheer nervousness as they both grip each other’s hands a little tighter than usual. 

\--

“I don’t know what to say to you two other than it’s positive” Tsunade breaks the news. Neither Kakashi nor Iruka let out a notion of joy or disappointment. 

“How far along am I, Hokage-sama?” asks Iruka. 

Tsunade squints and brings in Iruka’s medical report closer to her face. “You’re at about three weeks now.” 

_ Three weeks _ . Kakashi and Iruka exchange knowing looks to each other.  _ Their anniversary dinner _ . 

“I’m judging by the reaction that you two didn't expect this, correct?” Tsunade continues. Iruka and Kakashi both nod silently. She sighs and places the report back onto the table. 

“Tsunade-sama, forgive me, but how… is this possible?” Kakashi finally speaksーvoice coming out a little raspy as he’s been completely silent for a good two hours or so. 

“Male pregnancies, although uncommon, they can happen” Tsunade explains as she leans back into her chair. “There’s been a number of cases here in Konoha alone.” 

“Is it any different from female pregnancies?” Iruka asks, following up on Kakashi’s question. Kakashi places a hand on Iruka’s shoulder and squeezes. 

“In theory, no. The duration is pretty much the same. You'll get the same symptoms, risks, illnesses,” answers Tsunade. “But the birthing process is slightly different. You don't want me to go in-depth on that now, do you?” Both Iruka and Kakashi shake their heads violently. 

“You're still very early in your term, you can always end it if you want to” Tsunade’s recommendation catches Iruka's attention. “But for that, there’s a tremendous amount of paperwork that you two will need to fill out and a lengthy examination process that only I’m allowed to conduct.” 

Kakashi and Iruka fall silent again. 

Tsunade takes a scan of the expressions painted all over their faces again after her thorough explanation. It made sense to her that two barely thirty-something shinobis who probably never even thought about starting a family would know how to react to  _ this _ news. It’s not a scenario she’s never seen before. And it’s Iruka and Kakashi, of all people. 

“Look,” Tsunade says as she straightens up in her seat. Both Iruka and Kakashi now avert their eyes to fully focus on her. “There’s no rush to this.” 

“Godaime-sama,” Iruka starts to speak but is immediately cut off by Tsunade again. 

“You two, have every right to feel the way that you feel right now,” she continues. “And the last thing I want to do is be conservative about this.”

“Thank you, Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi says, bowing his head to Tsunade. Iruka also follows suit. 

“Let me know once you’ve both come to a decision” Tsunade replies, smiling at the two men before her. 

They both say their thanks once again to Tsunade and excuse themselves from the medical examination room. Outside the room, Shizune also greets them and they both bid farewell and make their way out of the general hospital. 

The walk back to their apartment is silent — Kakashi with his hands in his pockets the entire time, staring up at the crimson streaked sky above them and Iruka, with his hands now perched upon his stomach, as if he was full from eating way too much ramen at Ichiraku. Except for this time, he can only wish that it was Ichiraku ramen instead.

\--

Tsunade had explained to him that the procedure is generally done at the latest by the 24th week of the pregnancy term. Which meant that Iruka had a good 21 weeks of deciding whether or not he actually wants to go through with this. Kakashi insisted that he will follow whatever Iruka decides. As he clearly quoted the older that “you’re the one carrying it, not me”. 

Iruka doesn’t know who to turn to for advice. 

“I’m going now” Kakashi announces, which snaps Iruka out of his dilemma and he runs out of the bathroom to say goodbye. 

“Stay safe,” Iruka says.  _ I don’t want to be a single father at age 27 _ . He physically can’t even be sarcastic about it. 

“Yeah, I will” Kakashi replies and he places a kiss on the high of Iruka’s cheek and makes his way out the door. 

Iruka watches Kakashi close the door behind him and proceed to hop from balcony to balcony before fully disappearing behind a cloud of smoke. He sighs and he might as well start to prepare to go to the academy, he’s pretty sure his schedule is jam-packed for the day with so many curriculum planning, parent-teacher conferences and dear  _ God _ , the advisory meeting with the Hokage. He doesn’t even know if Tsunade will treat him differently knowing  _ that _ . 

Iruka quickly goes through breakfast; the standard bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup and eggs, and he makes sure to properly put on his hitai-ate before leaving. Unknowingly, he keeps touching his stomach as well. 

\--

“And that’s what I propose for the curriculum this term for my class” Iruka finishes his proposal and takes his seat again. 

“Very well” the Headmaster comments. “Nice job as usual Iruka-sensei. Next will be Ebisu-sensei.”

“Iruka-sensei, are you alright? Do you have a stomach ache?” Anko whispers to him as Ebisu stands up and takes his turn to present his class’ proposed term curriculum. 

Iruka lifts his brow in confusion. “No? Why would you think that, Anko-sensei?”

“You’ve been touching your stomach the entire time” Anko replies. Trust Anko to pay attention to this minuscule gesture. “You should go to the infirmary and have the medic-nin check it out.”

_ Fuck _ . Iruka curses in his head.  _ Think of an excuse quickly, Iruka _ . 

“O-oh n-no, it’s nothing, Anko-sensei” Iruka replies, waving his hand at her to indicate that everything is okay. “The drawstring of my pants were loose, so they were falling down when I stood up. I think I might’ve lost some weight.”

“Lucky” Anko clicks her tongue.  _ Lucky _ , Iruka scoffs in his head. He doesn’t even know what word to put to describe his circumstance. 

The curriculum meeting ends and Iruka stands up as quickly as possible to exit the meeting room. But much to his demise, Anko, Ebisu and Sadoru catch him before he can step foot out the door. 

“Iruka-sensei!” he hears Anko call out his name. “We’re going out for drinks tonight, you should come.” 

He’s pretty sure he’s not allowed to drink when he’s pregnant, right?

“Ah, I would, but — ” 

“Come on, Kakashi-san isn’t even here. Plus, I heard Asuma-san got gifted some really nice sake when he was in the Land of Wind on a mission.”

Iruka is suddenly struck with a new dilemma: whether or not he should let his friends know he’s pregnant. 

“It won’t be fun without you, Iruka-sensei” Sadoru now joins in. He knows they're desperate if Sadoru starts to join in on the pleading. 

_ Trust me, if you guys knew, you guys wouldn’t want me there _ . Iruka thinks to himself. 

“Iruka-sensei is just worried he’ll be outshined by my drinking skills” Ebisu jeers as he folds his arms over his chest and sticks his nose out. 

Iruka only lets out an awkward laugh.  _ No, pretty sure it’s not that either _ ,  _ Ebisu-sensei _ . Because being upstaged by a glorified babysitter is the one insecurity that Iruka  _ always _ carries. 

“Pleaseeee?” it’s rare for Anko and Sadoru to actually plead this much to Iruka, especially in this high-pitched, slightly weird, cutesy voice they’re doing. They must be really in need of a drink.

Iruka sighed and clutches the documents he’s holding even tighter against his chest. “Alright, I’ll go” both Sadoru and Anko cheer. “Same place?” 

They both nod and Iruka is finally given the sweet relief of leaving. He now has to prepare for the advisory meeting with Tsunade. Hopefully, things go as smooth as he thinks. 

\--

“Iruka” Tsunade’s voice booms as he enters her office. Maybe it was just his imagination since he’s been high strung since morning. Tsunade could just be being her usual self.

“Godaime-sama” Iruka responds, bowing his head slightly before approaching her desk. Behind her, Shikaku Nara and Shizune stood. 

“There’s been growing concern over security the past few days in the village” Tsunade speaks. “I’m sure you’ve been made aware, correct?” 

“Yes, Godaime-sama” Iruka responds again. Shikaku moves forward to place what seems like a map of Konohagakure in front of Tsunade. 

“Hokage-sama, we have indicated places that have shown the highest risk of a security breach” Shikaku speaks. Iruka catches a glimpse of the map that Shikaku has placed on the desk, several locations across the village have been circled in red — many of which happened to be Konoha’s archives of secret scrolls . The academy was also marked in red. “I have instructed the sensory and intelligence team to tighten security and we will monitor every shinobi that leaves and enters the village to see if something or someone is tailing.”

“And the barrier team?” Tsunade asks, looking up at the jounin commander. 

“The barrier team is currently placing new,  _ stronger _ seals on the village’s perimeters” replies Shikaku. “There’s been no sign of unrecognized chakra entering the village but there is also the possibility that the intruder can manipulate their chakra to mimic one of our shinobi.”

Tsunade nods, seemingly frustrated at the issue at hand. “You know what to do Shikaku.” Shikaku nods and takes a step back from Tsunade’s desk. “Now, Iruka,” 

“Yes, Godaime-sama,” says Iruka, focusing at Tsunade. 

“Since Sandaime trusted you with pretty much all of our village’s secret scrolls, I need you to do a recount at all of our archives just to make sure nothing has been taken or manipulated right from underneath our nose,” Tsunade orders. “Can I trust you to do that?” 

“Yes, Godaime-sama” Iruka replies. 

“Great, I will also assign Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara to aid you. Shikaku, please relay this order to your son” orders Tsunade again. Shikaku nods. “Meeting dismissed.” 

Shikaku takes his leave first, excusing himself to the Godaime and Iruka as he rushes out of the room. Shizune also excuses herself out to head to the Missions Desk so that the archiving task could be given to the mentioned shinobi as soon as possible. Iruka sighed, glad that the meeting is over, but as he readies himself to excuse himself, Tsunade stops him in his tracks. 

“Iruka, how are you feeling?” Tsunade asks, her voice completely devoid from authority unlike a few moments ago. Just when Iruka thought Tsunade would be too busy to ask Iruka about that.

“I’m alright” he replies, right hand moving to place on top of his stomach. He doesn’t know how convincing that was. 

“You keep putting your hand over your stomach” Tsunade comments. “If it’s bothering you, you can tell me.” 

“Godaime-sama,” Iruka hesitates. As kind and considerate Tsunade was being to him, he can’t burden her with his personal feelings over something that was entirely his (Kakashi’s actually) fault. She had the concern of the entire village’s safety to worry about not Iruka suddenly knocked up from a reckless drunken anniversary celebration. “It’s a little weird, but I’m alright.” 

“You and Kakashi are both sensible adults” Tsunade replies. “Although this probably happened because you two weren’t being sensible at all but aside from that, you two are very sensible people.” 

Iruka and Tsunade both chuckle. She’s right. If Iruka had been sensible at the time, he wouldn’t be knocked up right now. It was sensible to their libido, though. As Kakashi would have defended. 

“I’m still coming to terms with it, Godaime-sama,” says Iruka, caressing his stomach over his flak jacket gently. 

Tsunade nods, understanding. She dismisses the chuunin, with the reason being that she had a lot of paperwork to get back to but Iruka knows that Tsunade has just been dying to have a swig of sake — especially in preparation for a meeting with the village elders and Council. Iruka also wishes he could do the same. 

\--

With his new task, Iruka tries to do a mental mind-mapping about how he should go about his schedule. He meets with Shikamaru, Ino and Sakura down at the Missions Desk with Shizune, who seemed to have already explained everything to the three. 

“Iruka-sensei,” Sakura greets him. Ino and Shikamaru also greet him. 

“Hi,” he says. He also gestures to Shizune who politely bows at him as she hands over the mission scroll to him. 

“I took a head start on explaining to them,” Shizune says. “But you’re better versed about the archives than I am, so I did my best to cover all the groundwork.” 

“Thanks, Shizune. I’ll take over from here” Iruka responds appreciatively. The jounin excuses herself and leaves to go back to aid Tsunade. 

“Iruka-sensei, should we split up one by one or should we finish one archive at a time?” asks Sakura, already holding out the map with the circled locations. 

Iruka tries to remember which archive was the most heinous to tidy up and cross-check. All of it was. But if he were to suggest, they should start with the farthest archive away since it would be the most prone to security breaches due to seclusion. 

“Let’s meet at the farthest one over here tomorrow morning at 7 AM,” Iruka answers, pointing to one of the circled archives at the southernmost border of the village. “I’ll explain the technicalities to you all tomorrow morning. Go enjoy the rest of the day.”

“Thank you, Iruka-sensei” all three of them reply at the same time and bow to Iruka. Iruka politely dismisses them and they all leave the Missions Room. 

Now, on Iruka’s agenda, the drinking invitation. 

\--

He stops by his apartment first, saying “I’m home” automatically and fully expecting that Kakashi was there to welcome him back. He wasn’t. Kakashi was on some mission somewhere in god knows what land doing whatever. It’ll be a few days until the jounin returns. Iruka can only pout as he shucks off his sandals and heads straight to the bathroom. He needed a nice, peaceful, hot shower. 

\--

Genma and Raidou’s apartment was like home base for all the jounins and tokujos — with few special exceptions like Iruka and Sadoru. Iruka firmly believes that the only reason he’s always around these people is because he’s Kakashi’s live-in boyfriend of three years. Now he’s Kakashi’s  _ pregnant _ live-in boyfriend of three years. Which  _ none _ of them can absolutely know until Iruka and Kakashi reach a final decision.

“Iruka-sensei you made it!” Anko is the first one that greets him as he walks through the door, face already tinted with a slight shade of red. It’s only 9:30 PM but everyone seems to be one shot of sake away from a regrettable hangover. 

“Here I am,” Iruka replies, letting out what feels like a half sincere smile. 

Anko ushers him to an empty spot between Gai and Ebisu in the semi-circle they’re all seated in. In the middle, lies an abundance of dango and yakitori and two crates of sake and beer. Most of which are already almost empty. 

“Why the long face, Iruka? Let’s have fun even if Kakashi isn’t here,” Asuma, who’s sitting on the opposite side of him says, a flushed Kurenai attached to his side.

“Asuma is correct,” Gai, beside him, throws an arm around Iruka’s shoulder and pulls him in so close that Iruka can smell the stench of sake mixed with yakitori from his breath and holds up a glass of beer in the air. “Tonight we drink, to Kakashi’s mission’s success!” 

“I thought we got together tonight because it was Kurenai-san’s birthday?” Anko replies.  _ Oh, so that’s why. _ Iruka thinks. 

Gai rephrases his words. He’s even more boisterous drunk than sober. Iruka takes a mental note. “To Kurenai!” 

“Gai-san, you’re very drunk,” Iruka laughs, helping the jounin settle back down. “Do you want me to get a glass of water?” 

“Iruka,” Gai starts to talk again. “I think the problem here is that  _ you’re _ not drunk enough.”

“I haven’t even had anything to drink, Gai-san,” Iruka replies, taking off his flak jacket and putting it beside him. 

“And that  _ is _ a problem” Ebisu beside them perks up. “Genma! Raidou!” 

“One sake bomb coming right up!” Genma slurs as he bites off another piece of dango, messy hands going for the bottle of sake and beer. 

Iruka starts to panic, not knowing what to do while everyone around him is cheering for him to drink. 

“Here ya go~” Genma shoves the glass of sake and beer into Iruka’s hand. “And ya better drink it all in one go too.”

“Uh, t-thanks,” Iruka says, steadying the glass of alcohol in his hand so it doesn’t spill over. 

Gai then stands up and proposes a toast, still clinging onto Iruka a little for steadiness. “Everyone, let us cheer to the springtime of youth!” He raises his glass up so quickly that a little spilled onto his arm and Iruka’s shoulder. 

Surprisingly, everyone also raises up their glass and follows along. “To the springtime of youth!”

_ I’m so sorry baby _ , Iruka apologizes and clutches his stomach. Genma and Raidou saunter over to where Iruka is standing and they tip Iruka’s glass up and hold Iruka’s head in place. His throat burns as he feels the liquid slid down his throat. 

“One shot!” Genma lifts up Iruka’s now empty glass and everyone cheers at Iruka. Iruka coughs, he never liked the taste of beer mixed with sake. 

“One more round! Anko, Genma!” Asuma declares. 

“You got it Asuma-san!” Anko replies. 

Iruka spent the rest of the night drinking and spitting his drinks back up into his glass and then pouring it down the sink when he slips away to go to the bathroom. He notes to himself that he  _ needs _ to go see Tsunade tomorrow. 

\--

Today is officially the second day that Kakashi has been away. Usually, Kakashi going away on missions doesn’t bother Iruka much. But under these new circumstances, Iruka feels especially lonely and in need of Kakashi’s physical presence. 

He read a few articles last night to calm himself down. A small amount of alcohol consumption won’t affect his pregnancy but it was unclear to Iruka on what was actually defined as a small amount. A small amount of 5% alcohol wine is alright. Should be alright. But what about a tall glass of heavy-duty sake mixed with beer? There was also something else that he read about, but he stopped himself before he got  _ really _ paranoid. 

Sakura, Shikamaru and Ino were all there at the southernmost archive by 7 AM sharp.

“Good morning,” Iruka greets them. 

“Good morning, Iruka-sensei,” the three of them greet back. 

Iruka signals to the guards and wards that he will be entering. The door slides open for the four of them to enter. 

“It smells like dust in here” Ino whines, covering her mouth with her hand. 

“Well, it’s an archive, Ino-chan,” Iruka smiles back at her and hands the three of them surgical masks. “I have a list of the scrolls in this archive. We’ll split into twos, one will physically check the scrolls, one will cross-check with the list. Sakura-chan, you’re with me. Ino-chan, you go with Shikamaru.” he says as he hands over the list to Sakura and Ino. 

Ino and Shikamaru take the back half of the building while Iruka and Sakura work near the front.

“Sakura-chan, let’s start with the scrolls up the top” Iruka commands, grabbing the ladder and positions it properly. Sakura nods and helps Iruka by steadying the ladder as he climbs up. 

“What scroll number is that, Iruka-sensei?” Sakura asks. 

“This is scroll number 0001” replies Iruka as he squints to look at the code number. Sakura puts down a tick beside the scroll number that they’ve cross-checked. 

From the back, he can hear squeals of Ino, who claimed to have seen an insect fly past her face, and Shikamaru who groans and tells Ino to hold the ladder or else he’ll fall flat on his ass. 

They work like that for the next hour, Sakura diligently helping Iruka and they manage to get one entire shelf of scrolls checked and reorganized into their numerical order.  _ So far so good _ , Iruka thinks.  _ Nothing is missing _ .

Ino and Shikamaru are still at their previous dynamic, Iruka even chuckles listening to their interaction —a mazed that the traits of the great Inoichi Yamanaka and Shikaku Nara were all inherited by their beloved children. 

“Okay Sakura-chan, I think this is it for our half of the archive,” Iruka says as he places the last scroll on the shelf. “Ino-chan, Shikamaru, are you guys done?”

“We have one row left, sensei!” Ino answers. Iruka gives them a quick okay and starts to go down the ladder. But at that moment, Iruka’s footing slips and he finds himself falling backwards. 

“Iruka-sensei!” Sakura throws the archive list away and quickly puts her hands up in an attempt to catch Iruka before he lands onto the floor. But Iruka’s fall was too quick for Sakura to manage a firm and steady hold and they both end up tumbling onto the dusty floor.

“Sakura-chan! Iruka-sensei!” Ino and Shikamaru rush over to the two. Iruka fell on his side and half of his body was on top of Sakura’s who was trying to cushion his fall. 

“Sa-sakura-chan!” Iruka says as he gets up, but as he tries to push his body up, he feels a stinging pain in his ankle. 

Sakura thankfully was conscious and wasn’t injured aside from a scratch on her elbow from coming into contact with the floor. Iruka tries to get back onto his feet with Shikamaru’s help but he winces as he tries to put weight on his right foot. 

“Iruka-sensei, are you alright?” Shikamaru asks, putting Iruka’s arm around his shoulder to shift all of Iruka’s weight onto him and straighten him up. 

_ Fuck that does hurt _ , Iruka curses in his head. “I think I might’ve sprained my right ankle.”

Ino helps Sakura stand up and collect the discarded archives list. Iruka still winces as he tries to walk.

“Let’s get out of the archive first,” Ino suggests. She also goes to help Shikamaru carry Iruka out of the building and Sakura follows behind them.

Outside of the building, Shikamaru and Ino help Iruka sit down onto the grass and straighten out his legs for damage control. He shucks off his right sandal and unwraps the bandages around his feet for Sakura to feel around for a sprain.

“There’s a bump, Iruka-sensei,” Sakura comments as she presses two fingers against Iruka’s swelling skin. Iruka winces.  _ Yeah, that’s a sprain alright _ . 

“The bump will get bigger if we don’t treat it soon,” Ino says. She and Shikamaru kneel down to get ready to carry Iruka again. “Let’s go to the hospital, Iruka-sensei.”

As Iruka lets Ino and Shikamaru place his arms around their shoulders to be carried up, he realizes something else he should be worried about and he feels himself physically paling.  _ The baby. His and Kakashi’s baby. His and Kakashi’s baby that he stupidly forgot he was carrying in his fucking stomach when he fell off the ladder.  _ Iruka feels weak, sick, he wants to vomit. 

He didn’t want Kakashi to come home and find out his child  _ died _ while he was away because Iruka had been reckless. 

\--

“Well, Iruka,” Tsunade sighs. “You don’t need to panic. Your baby is stronger than you think.” 

Iruka also lets out a breath of relief. He’s sat on the hospital bed, sprained ankle already iced and wrapped properly but only he and Tsunade knew that the sprained ankle wasn’t Iruka’s main reason of concern. 

Tsunade had dismissed Sakura, Ino and Shikamaru before telling Iruka his full medical report. Knowing well that Iruka wanted to keep this between him and Kakashi before they ultimately decided on something. 

“Do you want to be sent home or do you want to rest here for a bit?” Tsunade asks, taking a seat on the chair beside the hospital bed. “I can write up a letter for your medical leave and have it sent to the academy.” 

“There’s no need for that, Godaime-sama,” Iruka declines, hating the idea of inconveniencing people especially the Hokage. Plus, if people were to find out Iruka was admitted to the hospital, he’d have visitors. 

“Alright,” Tsunade notes. “But, enlighten me a little, Iruka.” 

“Yes, Godaime-sama?” Iruka responds, lifting a brow. 

“Have you decided if you want to keep this baby or not?” she asks, crossing her leg and folding her arms over her chest. 

Iruka looks down at his hands, hesitant on what to reply to Tsunade’s question. “I haven’t talked about it with Kakashi yet but —”

“No, no. I’m not interested in what Kakashi has to say about this” Tsunade interrupts which catches Iruka off-guard. “I want to know how  _ you _ personally feel.” 

How  _ he _ feels. He repeats Tsunade’s words in his head over and over. He hasn’t had the time to properly sit down and actually sort his feelings. Was he happy when he first found out? Was Kakashi? Was he disappointed? Was he scared? If Iruka could sum it up, it would be a mix of everything with nothing specifically dominating the other. 

But as far as wanting to keep the pregnancy, Iruka wonders if he wanted to. 

Age-wise, Iruka was at the perfect age to be starting a family. Financial-wise, Iruka was certain his savings alone can keep him, Naruto and a baby alive —not even considering Kakashi’s contribution . And up until now, the hours he’s spent worrying over his unborn child and bawling at the thought of almost losing it this afternoon was a clear enough indication. 

“I want to keep it.”

And Iruka had said it, out loud without realizing that tears started to well in his eyes. 

Tsunade reaches out her hand and it goes to squeeze Iruka on the shoulder, smiling. 

“I want to keep it, Godaime-sama,” Iruka now says, his hand moves over once again onto his stomach and he places his hand over it gently. “I want to keep this child.” 

Tsunade’s grip on his shoulder tightens before she lets go and stands up. “Well, I’ll be seeing you for your bi-weekly check-ups then.” 

Iruka smiles and nods. He says thank you to Tsunade as she exits the room. 

“Tell me or Shizune when you’re ready to leave, I’ll arrange for an escort to take you home.” Iruka nods once again. 

\--

Iruka’s escort turned out to be Asuma and Gai. 

“Asuma-san, Gai-san, thank you for taking me home,” Iruka says as they reach his apartment’s front door. “And thank you for stopping by Ichiraku and getting me food, Asuma-san.” 

“Figured it would be hard for you to maneuver around the house for a bit with that leg,” Asuma replies. “It’s nothin’ big.” 

“Once again, thank you very much.” Iruka bows his head down slightly to the two jounins, who both blush and instantaneously tell him to just be casual with them. 

“Say hi to Kakashi for me when he gets back, alright?” Asuma says. 

“Rest up well, Iruka!” Gai also says with a big smile on his face and a huge thumbs up. The two of them jump off the balcony and down onto the ground. Iruka fumbles with his keys for a while but has now successfully entered his own home. 

“I’m back,” Iruka says, closing the door behind him. It’s a habit now and he doesn’t care that the apartment is pitch black and empty. 

He goes for the light switch and quickly places the take-out bag onto the dining table. He wasn’t particularly hungry and he wasn’t in the mood to be trying to take a shower with an injured leg either. The nearest he can rest would be the couch, a little lazy night won't kill Iruka once in a while. Tsunade already put him on medical leave as well. 

So he does so and plops himself down onto the couch, relieved to finally be off his feet and he places a cushion underneath his injured ankle. Iruka reaches out to the side table to grab the remote and switches on the TV. 

He flicks through the channels quickly to the news. Kakashi had bullied him and called him boring and old for watching nothing but the news on TV. Which is rich coming from someone who spends his precious hours of the day reading a glorified porn book disguised as a rom-com novel.

He switches next to the food and travel network after catching up with Konoha news. Iruka now kind of regrets not taking the food with him to the living room. The TV showed footage of a beautiful ryokan in the Land of Snow, complete with a private onsen per room and tatami mats that Iruka might be slightly too obsessed with. 

He imagines going there with Kakashi for a perfect, quiet, romantic get-away. Just the two of them, bathing in the private onsen as they stare up at the sky full of stars and the moon shining brightly as the snow falls down. 

Then he imagines going there with Kakashi and a child, their child. Be it a daughter or a son, Iruka doesn’t mind. He’ll love them equally either way. Though he personally wished to have a beautiful daughter. With the child there, he imagines a not-so-quiet vacation, where the time spent in the onsen will be filled with cannonballs and splashing and snowball fights and laughter. 

Now that Iruka actually thinks about it, he might be looking forward to the latter more than he expected. 

\--

Iruka woke up the next morning with his back hurting all over. He fell asleep on the couch — the TV still playing the food and travel channel he was watching last night and the footage in front of him was definitely not romantic. 

_ Kakashi should be returning today. _ Iruka reminds himself as he yawns, stretching his stiff back and neck. 

The clock reads 5:45 AM, Iruka thinks he should take a shower and get ready for his day but the sharp pain that hits him as he puts his feet back onto the ground again reminds him of his reality. He might as well just move to the bed and hibernate there. 

It took a lot of effort to steady himself and get up on his own. Iruka doesn’t remember the last time he sprained his ankle. It must’ve been back when he was really young and thought that jumping from tree to tree was still fun.

Their bedroom is still tidy and Iruka plops onto the mattress slowly. This is the first time that Iruka has actually slept in the middle of their bed instead of at their respective sides.  _ Was their bed always this big? _ He thinks as he fully stretches out his limbs.  _ Well, Kakashi’s legs were always taking up too much space anyway _ . 

Without realizing it Iruka started to drift off to sleep again, nestled underneath the warmth of the blanket and surrounded by complete, utter silence. He tries to savour the serenity while he can. 

\--

“You’re not at the academy?” Kakashi’s face is visibly surprised even from underneath his mask as he sees Iruka exit their bedroom at around noon. “Is this yours?” Pointing at the Ichiraku ramen take-out box on the table. 

“On medical leave” Iruka replies, wincing as he tries to move and braces against the wall. 

“Why on earth are you on medical leave?” Kakashi asks, hands grabbing at the take-out box to put in the fridge. “Did a student throw a kunai at you again?” 

“Why don’t you take a look, genius” replies Iruka again, irritated at the pain.

Kakashi looks at the younger from head to toe. 

“I don’t see anything wrong with you,” he responds. 

“Kakashi, my right ankle is twice its size,” Iruka says.

“Huh” the older comments. “I don’t pay attention to your ankles.” 

Iruka rolls his eyes. “You do when you want to put them over your shoulders.” 

Kakashi scoffs. “You’re not wrong there, sensei.” 

Iruka winces once more but he successfully managed to get back to the couch again. So far, Iruka’s movements have just been from the couch to the bed and then back to the couch again in less than 24 hours. 

“Are you okay? You’re making a lot of your bedroom noises,” Kakashi asks. Iruka wishes he could just throw one of the cushions right at Kakashi’s head.

“I fell off a ladder yesterday, that’s all” the younger replies. “Godaime-sama already examined me. The swelling should go away in a few days and the baby is also fine.” 

_ Ah right _ . Kakashi thinks.  _ The baby _ . He’s been away on a mission for the past three days that he’s completely forgotten about their fated discovery. “What were you doing up on a ladder?” He asks.

“Just something the Godaime asked me to check in the archive,” Iruka replies, he now grabs for the TV remote and switches on the TV. News channel.  _ As per usual _ , Kakashi thinks. The atmosphere grows awkwardly silent, like the first time they bumped heads during the chuunin exam nominations. There was just something that was physically restraining Kakashi from saying a word. 

“Hey, uh,” Kakashi finally musters, walking over and taking a seat on the other end of the couch to make sure he doesn’t accidentally nudge Iruka’s foot. “Do you, I don’t know, want to talk about that?” 

“What’s there to talk about?” Iruka replies, coming off harsher than he intended. 

“I don’t know,” Kakashi falls silent again, hesitant. “I completely forgot about it.” 

“ _ It _ is  _ your _ child, Kakashi,” Iruka says, not looking away from the TV. 

“I know, Iruka” He sighs. “It’s just that I promised myself that I will accept whatever decision you make.” 

“Yeah and you’re fine with that, right?” the younger asks, now focusing his attention back to Kakashi and sits up straight. “Kakashi,” 

Kakashi burrows his face in his hands, letting out a deep, long sigh. Iruka also sighs, turning the TV volume lower. 

“Iruka, I thought I was fine with it,” says Kakashi. “I’m sorry.” 

“I understand,” Iruka replies. He doesn’t.

“I-I’m going to go wash up, I have to report to Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi gently pats Iruka’s thigh as he stands up. “You just rest well and I’ll cook dinner tonight.”

“Okay,” Iruka replies with a half-hearted smile and his stomach feeling as if it’s sunk to the bottom of the ocean. 

\--

When Kakashi opened the door, there were three apologetic looking teens in front of him. 

“Kakashi-sensei, is Iruka-sensei home?” Sakura asks him. Kakashi takes a quick scan of their hands and sees that they’ve brought flowers and food. 

“He’s just on the couch over there,” Kakashi moves away slightly to reveal to the three; Iruka, perched on the couch, reading a book and a packet of ice on his ankle. “You three are an unusual combination.” 

“We were helping Iruka-sensei over at the archives a few days ago,” Ino explains. “And we weren’t quick enough to save Iruka-sensei when he fell off the ladder.” 

“Who is it, Kakashi?” Iruka shouts.

“It’s Sakura, Ino and Shikamaru” replies Kakashi, gesturing to the three to come in. 

“Iruka-sensei, we hope you’re feeling better,” Ino and Sakura say as they approach him. Iruka blushes at the kind gesture of their former students. 

Kakashi heads out, saying his good-bye and closing the door behind him. He takes the stairs this time as compared to just poofing away using his teleportation jutsu. He couldn’t believe himself that he could’ve just forgotten about Iruka like that and never once thought about how he would be doing. 

Maybe Kakashi wasn’t fit to be a father. He already had his doubts as a boyfriend when he started dating Iruka three years ago. Now he was going to be the father of his and Iruka’s child. 

He snapped himself out of his torments and walks faster to Tsunade’s office. 

\--

“The mission was a success, Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi says before Tsunade. “The Fire Daimyo’s daughter has been successfully retrieved.” 

“Very well” responds Tsunade. “You may be dismissed.”

As Kakashi places the mission report on Tsunade’s desk, he catches from the corner of his eye a Tsunade staring very intently at his face. 

“Is there something the matter, Tsunade-sama?” asks Kakashi, looking away from Tsunade’s piercing eyes. 

“I’m just curious what a baby that’s half you and half Iruka would look like” she answers and squints, even more, to focus on Kakashi’s face. 

“Tsunade-sama,” Shizune scolds her. 

“Relax, Shizune, you’re probably thinking the same as well” Tsunade continues. “I just can’t picture mini Hatake Kakashis running around Konoha.” 

Kakashi coughs, a little embarrassed. “If I may be excused now, Hokage-sama,”

Shizune scolds Tsunade even more, telling her to stop staring at Kakashi and gives him a clear cue to leave the room. Kakashi sighs and excuses himself. Trust Tsunade to be so upfront with her thoughts. 

Outside, Kakashi thinks about stopping by the teahouse hoping to run into Gai, he needed a little breath of fresh air after the past rough couple of days but somehow, as he begins to actually make his way to the teahouse, decides to take another small detour instead. A place where he truly felt at peace. 

\--

When Kakashi reached the place, the sky above him was slowly starting to turn golden and the previously hot sun started to cool down just a little. 

_ Father, _ Kakashi says as he approaches the gravestone in front of him.  _ It’s been a while _ .

He takes off his gloves and stores it away in one of his flak jacket’s pockets and kneels down, gently pouring water over the gravestone and proceeding to scrub it with the brush supplied by the graveyard attendees. The grime on the bottom of the stone indicating that it has been quite a while since Kakashi’s last visit. 

After he’s done a thorough job cleaning, he grabs the wilted bouquet of flowers from the bamboo vase and replaces it with a fresh bunch of white lilies. 

_ Forgive me, _ he says again. He looks around and spots a few other mourners as well, all carrying a varying amount of fresh-cut flowers for their loved ones. 

Kakashi sits down in front of the gravestone, uncaring if the ground below him will dirty his uniform. The golden rays of sunlight bounce off the marble plaque that read, in beautiful silver engraving, Hatake Sakumo. 

He doesn’t know where to start. 

_ Father _ , in his shaky voice he finally managed to say out loud.  _ You’re going to be a grandfather _ . Kakashi places his hand on the plaque and felt the cold marble underneath his palm.

_ I’m sorry, that I don’t visit as often as I should,  _ Kakashi says as he caresses the plaque. _ But I want you to know that I’m happy. _

_ I didn’t mean to upset Iruka as well, I was just having a hard time processing this, everything,  _ He continues _. I thought that my duties as a shinobi to Konoha would prevent me from being a decent father. But I realize, it never stopped you from being a wonderful father to me.  _

_ Father, I may seem like I know nothing yet, I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself to be a good father,  _ Kakashi inhales, feeling a lump in his throat.  _ But I promise that I’m doing my best. For you, for Iruka and for our child together _ . 

Kakashi ends his visit with a prayer, for his well-being, for his father’s eternal peace and happiness, and for his father to continue to oversee every step in Kakashi’s life. He gets back up on his feet and from a distance spots two familiar figures waving their hands up at him. 

“Yo, Kakashi,” Gai greets Kakashi with a high five as he makes way to where they are. 

“Gai, Asuma,” Kakashi exchanges his greeting with the both of them. He gives a bow and prayer to the late Hiruzen Sarutobi’s grave as well.

“I was just telling my old man some life updates when I bumped into Gai,” Asuma says. “Guess we’re all here to talk to our old man huh?”

Kakashi nods. “It’s been a while since I visited.”

“How’s Iruka’s leg doing?” Gai asks.

Kakashi raises his brow in surprise. “How do you know about that?”

“Godaime asked us to take him home from the hospital yesterday,” Asuma replies, placing one last lily into the bamboo vase. 

“Thanks for that,” Kakashi says, feeling a little relieved. “I owe you guys.”

“No need for that,” Asuma says as he puts a new cigarette in between his lips. “You’d do the same for us.” 

The sky grew a deeper red and they decided it was best to head on home. They walk side-by-side just like they did back when they were mere genins. Asuma and Kakashi hand their cleaning equipment back to the graveyard attendees and join in Gai who had walked back to the entrance gate first.

They walk in the same way back to town, mostly in silence, some chatting and jokes thrown around here and there. It was Asuma who stopped in his tracks first. 

“Kurenai is pregnant,” Kakashi and Gai both fall silent suddenly from their eternal rival conversation to look at Asuma. Surprised. Dumbfounded. “I’m going to be a father.” 

They don’t talk or yell, or scream or laugh, but they hug. As tight as possible too. It was Gai who shed his tears first and Kakashi smiles underneath his mask as he watches the glee painted all over Asuma’s face. 

“Congratulations,” Kakashi says. Asuma mouths a small thank you and gives Kakashi’s shoulder a squeeze. 

To a passerby, it might’ve looked strange why three big and tall jounins were all hugging and crying in the middle of the street. But Kakashi didn’t care. Nor did Asuma nor did Gai. 

The way Asuma had proudly announced that he was going to be a father made Kakashi realize that he too had something to look forward to. He was going to be a father too. 

\--

Kakashi comes home and he spots a mountain of food on the coffee table and Iruka sprawled on the couch completely drained of energy.

“Uh,” Kakashi says. 

“I know,” Iruka also says. “I know.” 

“I’m guessing more than three came here?” Kakashi asks, taking off his sandals and storing them neatly. 

“You know what they’re like,” Iruka replies, covering his eyes with his arm. 

Kakashi walks over to the living room and sat down on the other end of the couch. 

“About earlier,” he begins, hand moving to grab and squeeze Iruka’s calf. 

Iruka moves his arm away from his eyes so that he’s able to see the older. “It’s okay, we don’t have to talk about this now.” 

“Iruka,” Kakashi says, voice stern yet still gentle. “I want to do this with you. Whatever it is.”

Iruka’s eyes widen, surprised at the sudden declaration by the jounin. They stay still for a while but Iruka’s face visibly softens and he sits up straight and moves his hand to place it over Kakashi’s. 

“I want to keep the baby,” Iruka says as he holds Kakashi’s hand. Relieved that he can finally be open and honest about what he really wanted. 

For the second time today, Kakashi doesn’t say anything aside from pulling Iruka into a hug. But this time, he cries and so does Iruka. Their hold for each other only getting stronger and stronger. 

“We’re going to be parents,” Iruka says through small sniffles, laughing into Kakashi’s hair. Kakashi also laughs and his hand goes to cup the back of Iruka’s head as they press their foreheads together. 

“We’re going to be parents,” Kakashi repeats again, softer, happier. 

Iruka’s hooks his finger into Kakashi’s mask and tugs it down as their lips press together. Iruka smiles against Kakashi’s lips as the older hooks his arm underneath Iruka’s knees and carries him a la princess style off of the couch.

“I think we should celebrate properly,” Kakashi suggests, already making way to their bedroom and kicking the door open with his foot. 

“With pleasure,” Iruka hums, wrapping his arms around Kakashi’s shoulders even tighter and kissing the older even harder. 


	2. Chapter 2

Tsunade and Shizune were naturally the first people to be informed of Kakashi and Iruka’s decision.

“You two piss me off, walking in here holding hands and all,” Tsunade grumbles as they stood in front of her desk.

“Tsunade-sama, you’re scaring them,” Shizune whispers.

She lets out a small huff and crosses her arms over her chest.“Well,” Tsunade leans back into her chair. “Congratulations you two.”

“Thank you, Godaime-sama,” both Iruka and Kakashi answer as they bow slightly.

“Here are some books about pregnancies,” Shizune approaches them and places a stack of books in Kakashi’s hands. “Tsunade-sama and I have highlighted some vital information that you will need to know.”

“Thank you Shizune-san,” replies Iruka.

“Now, for the real question,” Tsunade starts, sitting upright in her seat. “Have you told anyone who isn’t in this room about this?”

“We haven’t,” the chunin replies. “We don’t want to announce anything yet.”

Tsunade hums. “The thing is with this new circumstance, I will have to shift  _ you _ away from any heavy-duty manual labour” she asserts as she points to Iruka. “And  _ you _ , Kakashi, away from any life-threatening missions.”

“Tsunade-sama, we don’t want any special treatment,” Kakashi says, his voice a little alarmed. Iruka beside him can only nod. 

“We want to continue with our duties as per usual” the younger also insists. “We don’t want you to go out of your way just for us.” 

"Yes, but Iruka, you shouldn't be teaching your students any physical activities classes," Tsunade argues. "I don't want a ninjutsu-gone-wrong to hit your stomach."

"Please, Godaime-sama," Iruka still insists, now bowing his body at a full 90-degree angle. "I don't want to cause any suspicions."

At Kakashi’s and Iruka’s statement, Tsunade and Shizune exchange looks and sighed in defeat. “Very well, but Iruka, you will have to take mandatory paternity leave from the academy.”

“Understood, Godaime-sama.”

“I just hope your child doesn’t get both of your hard-headed stubbornness,” she mutters. “You may be dismissed. Remember to come in for your check-up in two weeks.”

Kakashi and Iruka both nod before excusing themselves out of Tsunade's office. Shizune holds the door open for them as Iruka slightly limps out of the room and Kakashi trails behind the younger slowly to make sure he doesn't fall.

\--

That night, Kakashi finds himself bored out of his mind within the first ten minutes.

“Iruka,” he whines, flopping onto their mattress, long limbs taking up three-quarters of the bed. “I’m so bored.” 

The younger turns his head around. “How can you be bored of reading when you read all the time?” 

“The difference is between the content that I’m reading,” Kakashi argues, closing the book and throws it onto the nightstand. “This doesn’t benefit me in any way.” 

“And Make Out Tactics does?” Iruka rebutted, placing his pen in between the pages that he was reading. 

Kakashi smirks and props his head up with his elbow. “How about I show you how it’s beneficial?” he says as he pats the empty space beside him, indicating Iruka to scoot closer to him. 

“No thanks,” Iruka refuses sharply, quickly returning to the passage he was reading. “This benefits  _ me _ and  _ our _ child, Kakashi.”

“Boy, you tense up quick” Kakashi chuckles, moving closer to Iruka. He rests his chin on Iruka’s shoulder and looks over to see what the younger has been reading. “I hope our child is as studious as you.” 

“I hope our child isn’t as perverted as you,” Iruka replies tactfully, trying to read all of Tsunade’s notes that’s been jotted down beside the book’s passage. 

“I think I’ll have you know that you’re equally as perverted as I am,” Kakashi says and he begins to nip at the column of Iruka’s neck, pushing soft brown locks out of his way. Iruka shudders as he feels Kakashi’s hot breath fanning over his bare skin. 

“What baseless accusation,” Iruka scoffs, still reading the book he’s holding and trying to ignore what Kakashi is doing. But Kakashi doesn’t stop, digging his teeth lightly into golden brown skin. Iruka’s breath hitches. 

Kakashi hums, knowing well that Iruka is trying his hardest to suppress his reactions. If it’s one thing that Kakashi does best, it’s coaxing a reaction out of the chuunin. Iruka still doesn’t react much when Kakashi wraps his arms around Iruka’s waist and pulls him from the edge of the bed and closer to Kakashi. 

“Come on Iruka,” Kakashi whispers into the younger’s ear. “I know you want this as much as I do, no one’s here so you don’t have to be a prude anymore.” 

“A prude?” Iruka whips his head around once again, eyes glaring daggers at the jounin. 

“Let loose once in a while,” he presses a kiss to Iruka’s cheek. “Come on.” 

“Kakashi, I think you seem to have forgotten that the last time that we let loose,  _ I _ got pregnant,” Iruka barks. 

“And wouldn’t you say that’s a great result?” Kakashi smiles, placing his hands over Iruka’s stomach. It makes Iruka flutter when he feels Kakashi’s hand over his belly. 

Iruka sighed, Kakashi was right. 

“I promise to go slow tonight,” Kakashi says. Iruka scoffs, knowing well that Kakashi could never go slow. But he gives in any way, placing the book on their bedside table and returning Kakashi’s kiss. 

\--

The next two weeks go by with a breeze, much to Iruka’s original dismay. He had taken extra precaution when teaching practical classes to his students by placing a metal armour underneath his flak jacket, just to be sure in the event that one of his students accidentally hit him with a ninjutsu-gone-wrong. 

Tsunade has also subtly shifted Kakashi’s mission rotations into three-man jounin missions rather than solo missions, even though he had asked for Tsunade to not give him any special treatment and deploy him in accordance with his regular capability. 

As Iruka reaches the middle of his first trimester, he finally starts to feel the symptoms. 

“Iruka-sensei, that’s the fourth time you’ve yawned in the past 20 minutes,” Ebisu comments, fixing his glasses. “You’re also making me yawn.” 

“Want me to grab some coffee?” Anko suggests from the desk beside him. Iruka declines, knowing well that he’s not allowed to have any caffeine. 

“If I drink coffee now I won’t be able to sleep tonight,” Iruka replies as he yawns again. It was strange, how he was so tired even though he had fallen asleep at a decent time last night and Kakashi has refrained from proposing any kind of funny business for a few days now. 

He also found that he was hungrier than usual. 

“I’m starving though,” he says, placing a hand over his stomach. 

“Want to get some food after this?” Anko suggests, sipping from her cup of coffee. 

“I’m in for some Ichiraku,” Ebisu joins in, rolling over into their conversation on his rickety office chair. 

Kakashi  _ did _ say that Iruka shouldn’t defer from his cravings. Kakashi never did. Which is why Iruka is pregnant. Because Kakashi never deferred from his cravings. 

They stumble out of the faculty room the moment the clock strikes 5 PM and Iruka mentally notes to himself to order the extra-large portion with extra char siu pork. 

\--

Mornings were getting harder for Iruka. Between the constant craving for food and feeling nauseous the moment he actually smells food, he was stuck in quite possibly the second biggest dilemma of his life. 

“Can you not do that? I’m trying to eat,” Kakashi says as he squints at Iruka who’s exiting the bathroom. Iruka lets out an annoyed ‘tsk’ as he wipes his mouth with a tissue. 

Before rushing to the bathroom to vomit his guts out, Iruka had laid out breakfast for the two of them to eat and Kakashi had been mid slurping down his favourite miso soup when Iruka hurled into the toilet bowl. 

Iruka resumes back into his seat again, still coughing a little but it was nothing a nice cup of tea and honey can’t solve. 

“You’re glowing,” Kakashi comments from behind his bowl of rice, eyeing the sheen of sweat on the younger’s forehead and neck. 

“That’s sweat,” Iruka replies bluntly as he places the cup back onto the table. 

“How many foods is it that you can’t eat now?” Kakashi asks, grabbing a piece from the grilled saury in front of him. 

“A lot,” the younger says. The once appetizing food in front of him now sending him tidal waves of nausea. 

“You need to eat or else the baby won’t get any nutrition,” Kakashi says again, holding out a piece of tamagoyaki in front of Iruka’s face with his chopsticks. 

Iruka’s face scrunches as the scent of eggs fill his nose. But Kakashi was right. He needs to eat. For the baby especially. So he takes a bite and tries to stomach it down. However, this time, Iruka hurls and doesn’t quite make it into the bathroom in time. Kakashi reels as he carries Iruka to the bathroom.

\--

“Eight weeks, Iruka,” Tsunade says as she brings in Iruka’s latest medical report and ultrasound. “Your first trimester is ending soon. How are you feeling?”

Iruka is perched upon the hospital bed, eyes slowly closing and dozing off. Kakashi sighs and pats his boyfriend’s hand gently to wake him up.

“Godaime-sama,” Iruka says as he wakes up and yawns. “I’m tired and hungry all the time.” 

“Well, that’s to be expected” Tsunade responds. “Your baby is now developing from an embryo to a fetus. Which means that all the major organs are forming, the heart is starting to beat, the arms and legs will grow longer and the sex organ is — ”

“Wait, we can see the sex of the baby already?” Iruka interrupts, suddenly awake. Kakashi who was confused with all the pregnancy talk also perked up. 

“No. not yet” replies Tsunade. “We’ll be able to see it in about four weeks.” 

“I see,” Kakashi says, part of him a little disappointed as well. He hasn’t thought much about what the gender of the baby is. But now he starts to think how different of a father he would be if he had a son or a daughter. 

Iruka looks over at Kakashi when Tsunade told them that they couldn’t see the sex of the baby yet, analyzing the older’s face in order to determine a reaction. Iruka wonders if he’s able to guess how Kakashi would react to something by now — given that they’ve been dating for more than over three years. 

“Any gender you’re specifically wishing for?” asks Tsunade again, crossing her legs over the other and raising a perfect brow. 

Iruka and Kakashi exchange looks between the other, both at a pause as if stopped from wanting to say something. Their awkward fumbling making Iruka feel a pink tinge emerging on his cheek. 

“We’ll love the baby no matter what the gender is,” replies Iruka, nervous hands pulling at the hem of his flak jacket. 

\--

They walk back to their apartment together, side-by-side, Kakashi adjusting his speed to match Iruka’s now slightly slower pace, in the perfect yet comfortable silence that he can only feel with Iruka. 

The street lamps turned on one by one, lighting the streets of Konoha amidst the end of twilight. And the leaves that fall off from the trees around them dance in accordance with the wind. A chill yet gentle breeze. 

“Are you feeling alright?” it was Kakashi, surprisingly, who broke the silence first. He steers Iruka away from in-coming pedestrians. 

“I’m alright,” replies Iruka, smiling at the jounin. 

Iruka’s smile, so gentle, yet so strongly attractive — beautifully glowed underneath the last rays of sunlight of the day. 

“Kakashi-sensei! Iruka-sensei!” two familiar figures approach the two of them from the opposite direction. 

“Sakura-chan, Naruto, hello,” Iruka greets. Kakashi lets out a small “yo” at the two. “Where are you two off to?”

“We’re about to meet with the others at the new barbecue place!” Naruto replies. “Choji said there’s a good promo there.”

“How about you, sensei?” asks Sakura politely. 

“We were just on our way back from Tsunade-sama’s office and — ” 

“Sensei! Sensei! Come join us for dinner — ” Naruto interrupts and was quickly knocked off his feet by a punch to his cheek. 

“Stupid!” she yells. “Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei are busy!” 

Iruka blushes, telling them that it’s alright since it was already around dinner time as well. “We’re not that busy, do you want to eat some barbecue, Kakashi?” 

“Sure” the jounin replies, pretty much indifferent. 

Naruto exclaims in joy and he links both of his arms around Kakashi and Iruka’s as they make way to the barbecue place.

\--

“Oh? Kakashi?” a surprised Asuma says as he watches the silver-haired jounin walk through the curtains. 

“Iruka-sensei, hello,” Kurenai beside Asuma also greets him. 

“We’re sorry for suddenly intruding on this gathering,” Iruka apologizes as Naruto tugs him further into the restaurant. 

“No no, the more the merrier,” replies Kurenai. “Here have a seat, the kids will scoot over.” 

Iruka and Kakashi fit into the small space across from Kurenai and Asuma after the genins have moved over and made room for them. 

“Asuma-sensei, can we start ordering?” an excited Choji asks, already holding the menu in his hand. Naruto and Kiba also look over to the jounins with obvious puppy eyes. 

“Sure, go on ahead,” Asuma says, giving a thumbs up. The genins all exclaim in joy and start to squander over the promotion menu. 

“Is Gai-san’s team not here?” Iruka asks as he looks around their table. 

Asuma downs a sip of his beer before he replies to the chuunin. “They’re off on a mission. Won’t be back for a few days tops.” 

“Kurenai, congratulations,” Kakashi says as he puts his arm around Iruka’s waist. Iruka blushes, never being this intimate with Kakashi before in front of his former students —they usually refrain from any type of PDA around them—especially Naruto. 

At Kakashi’s sudden congratulatory remark, Kurenai blushes and so does Asuma who chuckles and scratches the back of his head. 

“Eeee, what are you congratulating Kurenai-sensei for, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asks. 

“Uh,” Kakashi stutters, trying to think of an excuse. He gives a look to Asuma.  _ Do they know yet? _ Both Asuma and Kurenai shake their head. 

“Aah, Naruto, this looks delicious, maybe you should also order this one!” Iruka jumps in quickly, pointing out to a super juicy looking plate of pork belly on the menu which makes all the boys coo. 

“Can we get this one too, Asuma-sensei?” the boys all say in unison, the sudden abrupt movement shifts the table and made Hinata jolt in surprise. 

“Hinata, are you alright?” Sakura and Ino quickly try to calm her down. “Hey, you boys can't ya sit quietly once in a while? Sheesh,” Ino scolds.

“It’s you girls who are taking so long to order!” Naruto says as he blows a raspberry. “Worrying about your stupid diets and all.” 

“Yeah! We’re starving!” Kiba also joins in. The jounins and Shikamaru all sigh as they begin to squabble over who’s more in the wrong. Iruka wonders how he ever survived being the homeroom teacher of this lot. 

The squabbling continues with names started being called. Kakashi feels a headache growing. 

“Enough,” Iruka scolds, his teacher instincts kicking in. 

“Iruka-sensei,” Kurenai gasps. 

“Iruka,” Kakashi whispers. 

“Let’s just all try to be nice to each other alright?” Iruka continues. “Don’t fight and talk over one another. You’re full-fledged shinobi now, not little academy students.” 

“Yes Iruka-sensei,” all the genins say in unison. Kakashi is slightly amazed at how quickly Iruka is able to put the kids back in place. 

They place in their orders and happily start to eat, even though there were slightly fattier cuts of meat that made Iruka almost barf but Kakashi was there, thankfully, to rub small circles on Iruka’s lower back as he slowly tries to stomach down his food. 

Kurenai’s pregnancy talk was kept to a minimum, but it was splendid, Iruka thought, maybe they’ll be the same blushy way these two are when they finally break the news to everyone. But for the meantime, it’ll be a small (actually super big) secret kept between two (not including Tsunade and Shizune). 

\--

Iruka has been on a four-day streak of constantly throwing back up everything he eats and Kakashi finds himself worried. Worried enough that he disguises himself to ask for Shizune’s help. 

“Shizune,” Kakashi whispers from behind his disguise. Sukea has made his appearance again and at the sudden appearance of Kakashi’s disguise, the medic-nin is shocked surprised and drops the tray of herbs that she was carrying onto the floor. 

“Kakashi-san!” she half shrieks but Kakashi immediately places his finger over his lips indicating for her to keep her voice down. “What are you doing? Why can’t you just approach me normally?!”

“Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you privately,” he says, looking back and forth at the ends of the hospital’s corridor. “It’s urgent.” 

Shizune raises her brow but doesn’t ask any more questions. She gathers the dropped tray of herbs and leads him to one of the empty labs. 

“What is it, Kakashi-san?” she says as she places the herbs in one of the industrial-sized sinks. “It’s something about Iruka-sensei isn’t it?”

Kakashi nods. 

“Iruka has been throwing up non-stop,” Kakashi sighs, leaning against one of the counters. “I’m worried.”

Shizune raises her brow again and starts to wash the herbs. “That should be normal during this time of his pregnancy.” 

“I know it should be,” the jounin continues. “Is there, I don’t know, something I can do? I really don’t like seeing him like this.” He scratches the back of his head. 

“If you’re looking for prescribed medication, I’ll have to talk to Tsunade-sama first about it,” responds Shizune. “She wouldn’t want Iruka to take just any medication.” 

“Alright,” he responds, tugging at the scarf around his neck. 

“In the meantime, try to change his diet. There should be a whole list of diets in one of the books I gave you,” the medic-nin continues. She winces as a little thorn on one of the plants pricks her finger. 

The books, right, Kakashi thinks. He gives his thanks to Shizune and disappears behind a cloud of smoke. So Iruka  _ was _ right, the books were important. 

\--

“I’m home,” Iruka says as he enters the front door, returning from his classes for the day. His lower back and feet were killing him and he just wanted to lay down as soon as possible. “Kakashi?” no reply. He was sure Kakashi wasn’t deployed on any missions for today. 

He places his keys into the key bowl and stack of documents beside it. He’ll get to grading his student’s assignments later on. 

He scans his living room — no signs that Kakashi had been there and it was still kept as tidy as it was when he left this morning. 

“Kakashi?” he tries to call the jounin’s name again. This time he checks for the bathroom, but the older wasn’t there as well. 

The last place Iruka headed off to was their bedroom. If Kakashi wasn’t there, he might’ve gone out to train or dragged off to another one of his eternal rivalry matches with Gai. 

But Iruka had been incorrect and he can’t help but let an endeared smile appear on his face. Kakashi had fallen asleep on their bed, the pregnancy books that Shizune and Tsunade had given them scattered all around him. 

He tiptoes quietly as to not wake him up and approaches the sleeping jounin. “Thank you for trying your best for us,” he whispers as he leans down to place a kiss on Kakashi’s forehead. Kakashi twitches in his sleep a little and Iruka gently walks around to his side of the bed to join him. 

\--

The second trimester of Iruka’s pregnancy starts and a new dilemma has come across them. Iruka has started to show. 

“I’ve gained 15kg,” Iruka whines as he steps off the scales. Tsunade jots down his recent weight into his medical report. 

“Well you  _ are _ pregnant,” Tsunade replies. “You’re only gaining 1-2kg per week, that’s still healthy.” 

Iruka sighs, Tsunade is correct to a degree. He is pregnant and in order for his baby to grow healthily, he needs to eat. 

“You still look fine,” Kakashi comments, crossing his arms over his chest. “A little plump, but who even cares?”

“ _ I _ care,” Iruka snaps. The near breakdown he almost had this morning because his flak jacket wouldn’t zip over his stomach was telling. 

Kakashi rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry, Tsunade-sama, but Iruka is still upset because his clothes don’t fit him anymore,” the jounin says. Shizune panics beside him as she feels a lovers quarrel about to erupt. 

“And what’s so wrong about that?!” Iruka snaps again which catches Tsunade by surprise. Kakashi also widens his eyes at Iruka’s sudden tone. 

“Iruka, nothing is wrong about that —” Tsunade tries to comfort him but the chuunin goes into another fit of anger. 

“And it’s not my fault that I’m gross and pregnant now!” he bursts again. Kakashi goes into a whole new realm of shock. “It’s not  _ my _ fault!” he says that as he looks at Kakashi dead in the eye. 

Shizune and Kakashi exchange looks as Iruka storms out of the room. Tsunade still dumbfounded as she’s never seen this side of Iruka before. 

“Tsunade-sama, I’ll be right back,” he excuses himself. 

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Kakashi to find Iruka, his scent and chakra still being within a distance that Kakashi can track.

He finds the younger sitting on a bench in the small park behind the hospital, head in his hands like the first day he found out he was pregnant. The park wasn’t particularly crowded but it wasn’t empty either. There were other patients as well who were enjoying the warm sun and breeze of the late afternoon. 

“That was uncalled for,” Kakashi says as he takes a seat beside the younger. 

“Kakashi,” Iruka mutters as he lifts his head up, not all too surprised at the jounin finding him so quickly. 

Kakashi leans back and looks up at the tree they’re sat under, seeing the small ray of sunlight shining through the branches and leaves. 

“I know it’s my fault you’re pregnant,” he says, still looking up into the tree. 

Iruka widens his eyes as he remembered what he had said. Embarrassed that he could even have such a childish outburst in front of the  _ Hokage _ of all people. “I, I didn’t mean it like that!”

Kakashi smiles. “I know,” he says again. 

“I-I was just feeling a little down,” Iruka mumbles, face a little sullen. “When I saw that number on the scale I just felt so disgusting, you know?” 

Kakashi nods, now placing his hand on the younger’s shoulder to give it a reassuring squeeze. 

“And this morning,” Iruka adds again, now a little sobbing. “My uniform wouldn’t even fit.” Kakashi knew that had been the cherry on top of Iruka’s morning. Of all the years he’s known Iruka, this was the first time he’s seen Iruka be so irrational. But he wasn’t about to say that, not to his face at least. Unless he wanted another verbal lashing. 

The hand that was previously on Iruka’s shoulder moved to wrap around his frame and pulls him into Kakashi’s body. 

“Iruka,” the jounin says, his hand rubbing comforting circles on the younger’s arm. “You could be 200kg and I’ll still find you as attractive as when I first saw you.” 

The chuunin only scoffs as he lets his head fully rest of Kakashi’s shoulder. “You’re just saying that.” 

“I’m serious,” Kakashi says. “80,000 people in this village and I only wanna bang your ass.” 

Iruka scoffs again in disbelief and he smacks Kakashi’s side although he does feel a little comforted—even though it was in Kakashi’s own brand of sympathy.

“Let’s get back to Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi gets up and holds out his hand for Iruka. “And, we’ll get you bigger clothes on our way back.” 

“Okay,” the younger agrees and takes Kakashi’s hand. They head back into the hospital, trying to think of a way to save face in front of Tsunade and Shizune as well. 

Though Iruka was still trying to accept the fact that his once chiselled jaw has gone softer and rounder and his toned stomach had given way in place of a small bump, he’ll know that at the end of the day, Kakashi will still be there for him regardless. 

\--

He was running out of excuses when Anko suddenly asked him something that caught him off guard. 

“Iruka-sensei, have you gained a little weight?” Anko asks as she walks past Iruka’s desk while holding her lunch. The wafting smell of beef teriyaki makes Iruka a little nauseous. 

“Have I?” Iruka replies, embarrassed while trying to contain his nausea. He begs silently for Anko to step away from him before he actually throws up. 

“Yeah,” replies Anko coming closer into Iruka’s space, now the smell of teriyaki is really all up in his nostrils. 

“A-Anko-sensei, please,” Iruka nervously laughs and holds his hands up in front of him as a defence.

“Dating Kakashi has really made you let yourself go,” she comments again. But this time, Iruka couldn’t hold it in any longer. 

He pushes Anko away from him and turns his chair to grab the waste bin by his desk before proceeding to puke out the remnants of his breakfast. 

“Iruka-sensei!?” Anko panics and she quickly puts down her lunch to rub Iruka’s back. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yes I’m alright,” Iruka coughs. “Thanks,” he says as he retrieves his bottle of water from Anko.

Iruka takes a deep chug of his water to wash off the taste of vomit from his mouth. But another remark from Anko makes him choke on his water. “You’ve been throwing up a lot lately, it’s like you’re pregnant.” She laughs but Iruka, instead, falls dead silent. 

It took a moment for Anko to realize Iruka’s lack of reaction to her remark. Her eyes widen in absolute surprise and no words escape her mouth as much as she wants to. 

“W-w-what,” she stutters and Iruka grabs her hands and begs with his eyes that she doesn’t cause a scene. Thankfully, it was only the two of them now in the faculty room. “How?! For how long?!” she manages to squeak out. 

“Four months,” Iruka replies quietly, trying to avoid all means of eye contact with Anko.

“Four months?!” before she yells, Iruka moves forward to cover her mouth with his hands. 

“Anko-sensei,  _ please _ ,” Iruka begs again. “Kakashi and I haven’t told anyone yet.” 

Anko is still dumbfounded. To think that Iruka had been hiding such a big secret right underneath her nose and she didn’t pick up on  _ anything _ . 

“Anko, I know this is huge,” Iruka swallows, a little nervous to actually be admitting his pregnancy out loud to someone aside from Tsunade-sama and Shizune. He hasn’t even told his parents and Sandaime about this. 

In her head, Anko was trying to connect two and two together. No wonder she caught Iruka spitting drinks back up on Kurenai’s birthday celebration. And all of the times she saw Iruka yawn, eat two portions of a meal he’d normally just eat one of and leave for an ungodly amount of times to the bathroom. 

“Iruka-sensei,” she finally manages to say after staying silent for so long. All the shock from earlier slowly leaving her body. “I mean, you’re going to be a father! Of course it’s huge! Congratulations!”

Iruka nods, he knows that fact very well. Anko grabs the nearest chair and sits down beside Iruka. 

“Sorry,” Iruka apologizes. “I was finding ways to tell people about it.” 

“No, no, it’s fine,” Anko says, waving her hands. “So I guess my lunch made you throw up, huh?”

“Yeah, maybe a little,” the chuunin laughs, resuming his lunch. One that was specially curated by Kakashi so Iruka can stomach it down. 

“Oh you poor thing,” Anko teases and nudges him with her elbow. 

Iruka lets out a breath of relief with Anko finally knowing and not being weirded out by his news. One down, God knows how many more to go. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, sorry for the long hiatus from updating this fic but im here to finally give this fic some little closure.
> 
> i originally wanted it to be much longer.. up until the birth actually.. but i'm no longer in the naruto fandom therefore i couldnt really go on since i lost the characterization feel.. and i figure with what i have already written, this was the kind of perfect ending.
> 
> im sorry to disappoint and im really sorry once again! 
> 
> i hope you've enjoyed reading this ;;

“Anko looked at me funny, so I’m guessing she already knows?” asks Kakashi as he spots Iruka walk out of the faculty room. On days where Kakashi didn’t have any missions, he likes to come by and pick Iruka up from work. 

“She sure does,” responds Iruka, closing and locking the door behind him. “Sorry, I probably should’ve talked about it with you first.”

“You know I don’t care about that,” Kakashi says as he holds out his hand for Iruka to hold. After pocketing the keys and making sure the door is locked one last time, Iruka takes Kakashi’s hand in his and they begin to walk out of the academy together. “I just didn’t know we were already telling people, considering what we said to Tsunade-sama.” 

Iruka shrugs. “You have a point but I think from here on out, it’ll be kind of hard to, you know, hide it.” His other hand moves to touch his stomach. Even from underneath the sized up flak jacket, he can still feel the bump where the baby is growing. “There’s only so much big and loose clothing can hide.” 

“That’s true,” Kakashi replies, tightening his grip on Iruka’s hand. “Well, if you’re ready, then let’s do it.” 

“Okay then,” the chuunin agrees as they finally exit the building. 

\--

“Kakashi, when I said telling people, I didn’t mean — ” Iruka protests a little as he’s pushed by Kakashi from behind. 

“Nonsense, we have to do this, or else I’ll live in guilt for the rest of my life,” Kakashi says. “What? Are you embarrassed?”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Iruka hisses and swats Kakashi’s hand off of him. They reach the memorial stone right before sundown, managing to grab a fresh bouquet of flowers from Ino’s flower shop before she closes for the day. 

It’s been a while since Iruka’s stood here. The last time he recalls was when he was with the Sandaime, watching over Naruto and his newly assigned jounin leader over by the third training ground. God, he thinks, how time has flown by. 

Iruka places the bouquet of flowers in front of the memorial stone before retreating and joining Kakashi in saying a prayer.  _ Dear Mother and Father _ , Iruka starts. He was a little embarrassed to be telling his parents that he got pregnant — with the father of his child who happens to also be his long term boyfriend standing right there beside him . He wondered how they would react to his news if they were still alive today. His mother would’ve probably been ecstatic to finally have a grandchild.

“Are you finished?” Kakashi asks the younger, hand fixing his hitai-ate. 

“Yeah, I am,” replies Iruka. He sighs as he sees the name of his parents engraved on the marble stone in front of him one last time. “Why did you want me to come here?” 

Kakashi raises his brow. “Well, wouldn’t you want your parents to know that you’re about to be a father?” 

“I do,” Iruka answers. Kakashi catches a deep shade of red highlighting Iruka’s cheeks. “But it’s just, a little embarrassing to actually officially tell them, you know?”

“Iruka, you’re 27, not some irresponsible teenager,” Kakashi scoffs. “Plus I also had to ask for your parents’ blessings.” Though it’s not visible, Iruka can somehow tell that Kakashi was smiling just a little underneath his mask. 

“My parents’ blessing?” Iruka asks confusedly. “For what?”

“For you to marry me,” the jounin replies, hand reaching into his pocket and produces a small, velvet black box. 

“Kakashi, I,” Iruka stutters, surprised and taken completely off guard. 

“Umino Iruka,” Kakashi starts, his voice gentle and deep, complete with the whole kneeling on one knee before his lover as he opens the box to reveal a beautiful yet simple, silver ring. “Will you take me, in all of my stupidity and idiocy that you’ve witnessed during our years together, to be your husband?”

Iruka laughs but he also cries, tears that were welling up in his eyes streamed down his cheeks as he nods. He doesn’t know if it was his hormones or Kakashi’s ever so stupid brand of romance, but he cries. “Yes. Yes, I will.”

The ring slips on perfectly onto Iruka’s finger before they share a kiss, basked underneath the glow of the setting sun. 

“I love you,” Iruka mumbles, arms wrapping around Kakashi’s torso to hold him close. 

A cry comes out from behind the bushes and it makes Iruka snap his head around so fast. “Congratulations!” a unison of voices say out loud and Iruka is taken aback at the row of people now applauding and cheering for him. 

“Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, congratulations!” Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Tenten say as they’re all huddled together, a little teary-eyed from the proposal.

Gai and Lee were already a sea of tears. Gai even more so by charging at Kakashi directly to pull his friend into a big, suffocating hug. 

Naruto, who stood there with tears welling around his eyes, clenches his fist and yelled the loudest to gather everyone’s attention. “Kakashi-sensei! Iruka-sensei!” 

“Naruto?” Iruka raises his brow, wiping away a tear. 

The next thing Iruka knew, the genin leaped into his arms and sobbed the hardest Iruka has ever seen him cry. 

“Iruka-sensei,” Naruto says in between sniffs. “Congratulations.” 

“Naruto,” Iruka smiles as he hugs the younger closer to his body. “You’re going to be a big brother.” 

“I am?” Naruto says as he looks up at Iruka. Iruka nods. Kakashi from a far smiles as he watches Naruto and Iruka, still surrounded by other people who were teasing him for having such a big proposal. 

“Congrats, Kakashi,” Tsunade says as she approaches him and gives him a smack on his back which almost makes him topple over. 

“Thank you, Tsunade-sama,” the jounin replies, trying to mask the pain from Tsunade’s arguably gentle slap.

“I never took you for someone who would have such a grand proposal,” she says again, looking at the amount of shinobi who are gathered to witness and congratulate the two. 

“I’m not,” replies Kakashi, shoving his hands into his pockets. “But I know Naruto wouldn’t have it if he wasn’t there to see Iruka get engaged. And you know how Naruto attracts a crowd.”

“That’s fair,” Tsunade says again. 

That night, Ichiraku ramen was on the house for everyone, courtesy of Naruto exclaiming out loud that Iruka and Kakashi had just gotten engaged. 

\--

“Iruka-sensei, what did you mean when you said I was going to be a big brother?” Kakashi accidentally chokes on his drink and it comes out of his nostril. 

“Fuck —” Kakashi curses, feeling the inside of his nose burn and runs to grab a handful of tissues. 

“N-naruto, why do you suddenly ask?” Iruka asks nervously, wiping his hands on his pants after finishing washing the dishes

Naruto had originally come over for lunch to celebrate Iruka and Kakashi’s engagement privately, but the young genin had overstuffed himself with too much food and is currently sprawled on their couch in a near food coma.

“You said so yourself, Iruka-sensei,” Naruto hums. “Are you guys getting a puppy or something?”

Kakashi and Iruka exchange a look, silently battling with their eyes on who has to tell Naruto the actual truth. They don’t even know if Naruto _ knows  _ what a pregnancy is, let alone understand how and why Iruka is pregnant with Kakashi’s child. 

“N-no, we’re not getting a puppy, Naruto,” replies Iruka, still exchanging glares with Kakashi.

“Eeh? Then what are you getting?” the genin whines, curious as to what his sensei meant by him being a big brother. 

Iruka sighs, not knowing how else to bring this up with Naruto aside from just telling him outright. Naruto is old enough to understand, isn’t he? The boy would be more offended if Iruka had never told him. 

“Kakashi, come here with me for a second,” Iruka calls for the jounin who has been standing in front of the bathroom door for quite some time. 

Naruto sits upright on the couch as he sees Iruka and Kakashi approach him—scooting over to the centre of the couch to let his senseis sit on both of his sides. 

“Naruto,” Iruka is the one to start and places his hand on top of Naruto’s own. The young genin still confused at Iruka’s now serious expression. 

“What is it, Iruka-sensei? You’re scaring me,” he gulps, wanting to back away but jolts when he realizes Kakashi was sitting on his other side. 

“The reason why you’re going to be a big brother,” Iruka gulps. “Is because I’m pregnant, Naruto,” the chuunin finally says, his hand now grips Naruto’s. He’s prepared himself for whatever reaction Naruto will have—even if it does make the genin flee and never want to see him ever again. 

Naruto blanks out. Either from the surprise that Iruka is pregnant or he doesn’t understand what Iruka had just said to him. He hopes that it’s the latter. 

“Naruto?” the chuunin calls his name again. 

“Y-you’re pregnant, Iruka-se-sensei?” he stutters. Iruka nods. Naruto turns around to check for Kakashi’s reaction and the jounin also nods back at him. 

“Listen, Naruto, we—we’re really happy about this,” Iruka says, placing his hand over his stomach and gently caressing it. “We really are.” 

“Why wouldn’t you be?” Naruto asks back, which catches Iruka and Kakashi by surprise. “You’re going to be parents.” 

Naruto retracts his hand from underneath Iruka’s hand and it confuses Iruka at first on what the genin is about to do. 

“And he’s going to be  _ my _ little brother,” the genin flashes a big, toothy smile that makes his eyes turn into little moons. A little part of Iruka melts as he sees the smile on Naruto’s face. Naruto jumps on Iruka again for a hug, both overly happy and excited. Kakashi only lets out a small smile as he ruffles the genin’s blond hair. 

“What makes you so sure it’s going to be a little brother, Naruto?” Kakashi says. 

“Cause  _ I _ want a little brother,” the genin replies. Kakashi scoffs and rolls his eyes, hands moving to pinch Naruto’s cheeks until the younger shrieks. “But I do have a question, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei,” the genin says after he’s successfully bitten Kakashi’s hand away from his face—which evidently earned him another pinch on his cheeks. 

“What is it, Naruto?” Iruka asks, tilting his head a little. 

“How  _ do _ you get pregnant?” the young genin asks and the sudden question makes both Iruka and Kakashi choke on their own spit. “Cause Shikamaru said to get pregnant you have to have—”

The young genin suddenly finds two large pair of hands covering his mouth and he lets out muffled protests at his two sensei.

“We’ll answer that question once you’re a bit older, Naruto,” Iruka replies, letting out a panicked smile and laugh.

“Really? The kid is old enough to do the sexy jutsu but this he can’t know about—” Kakashi also earns himself a smack on his head. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are always appreciated <3
> 
> u can find me on twitter @kakashislawyer !!


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